Philippines and Spain resume pork imports after African swine fever regionalisation deal

The Philippine Department of Agriculture lifted its ban on pork and swine product imports from Spain after recognizing Spain's African swine fever (ASF) regionalisation framework. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. signed a circular that allows imports of pork meat, pig skin and other by‑products under agreed sanitary conditions, aiming to diversify supply and ease domestic pork price pressure.

Spain and the Philippines have formalised a regionalisation agreement that treats most of Spain’s territory as a disease‑free zone, except for the province of Barcelona. The deal enables the issuance of livestock export certificates for meat produced after May 8, allowing Spanish pork to flow back to the Philippine market while negotiations continue on processed products.